What a Day, What a Life
by yosakazure
Summary: Yugi is late for school! He hurries to get ready but something isn't right. He can't find his deck anywhere and his school slippers are missing! What sort of fiend steals shoes and leaves roses in their place?


[A/N: Dream inspiration has struck again, ladies and gents! Don't you all feel lucky? :3

Just as with Tabletop Experiment, some of the details might be a little vague, but let's see where this takes us!]

Chirp.

Chirp.

Chirp.

CHIRP!

Yugi stirred awake from his bed and half-heartedly wiped the sleep from his eyes. Why do birds have to be so loud? That's the only downside to having a skylight; birds are always perching on the roof and he gets to hear their birdy gossip every morning. The duelist with the tri-colored hair glanced over at the alarm clock with bleary eyes and gasped at the time. Why didn't his alarm go off!? He poked the colorful clock a couple of times in frustration as if punishing it for not waking him up and that's when he saw the alarm was never turned on in the first place.

"Oh, I guess this is MY fault, then," Yugi sighed and blew a raspberry at the clock before rolling out of bed to get dressed. Absently he groped for the puzzle that should be resting on his desk, his eyes still heavy with the desire for sleep and then realization hit him when he didn't feel anything. He had almost forgotten that Atem had been in the afterlife for a while now. One of these days, he has to stop looking for it every time he woke up.

Sleepy zombie Yugi didn't fully wake up until he got to the bathroom to brush his teeth. He hadn't even realized he had already gotten dressed. Did he shower too? He couldn't remember. His hair felt like it had been combed, so he must have. As he sluggishly brushed his teeth, he stared into the water running in the sink, knowing he should be moving faster but he couldn't be bothered. There was something strange about today. Normally his mom would be in his room and dragging him out of bed by his ear if he even overslept by a minute. Then he remembered she and his grandfather have left for a little while to visit his dad. He couldn't help but be a little bitter. Sure he had school and everything, but it would've been nice to at least have been invited.

He filled a rinsing cup and swished the cold water around in his mouth for a little bit. At least his grandfather didn't ask him to watch the shop after school. So there's that. This cheered him up a bit so he hurried to spit in the sink and then grab his stuff for school. His bag was already packed in his chair, he just needed to grab-wait a minute.

Something was missing. Something very very important.

Where was his deck?

He knew for sure he had it in his deck belt over the weekend. But his deck belt was nowhere in sight, either! He couldn't go to school without his deck; that's like asking him to go to school without pants! He checked around for his gold box that once housed the puzzle but now houses his favorite cards and his deck when he wasn't using it. Lo and behold, he couldn't find THAT either. Now he was starting to get worried.

"Don't panic, Yugi. I'm sure jii-chan took the box to polish it...or something. And maybe...maybe my deck is at school..." he said aloud, not convincing himself one bit. His grandpa did like to relive his youth, and finding the puzzle was definitely one of his biggest conquests, so he might have grabbed it to look it over. But leaving his deck at school was definitely a bigger stretch. He KNOWS he wore it this past weekend!

A glance at the clock told him today was Tuesday. So...maybe he did take it to school on Monday and forget about it. Frustrated, he ran his hands through his spiky locks and growled, the second hand of the clock on his mantle seem to tick louder and louder in his ears as he grew increasingly late for school.

"FINE! I'm going! I really hope it's at school or I don't know what I'm going to do!" he whimpered to himself as he hurried downstairs and out the door, quickly locking it behind him and running toward the bus that will take him to school.

Before he knew it, he was already inside the building and heading for his shoe locker. He lifted the lid and felt around for his indoor shoes while he kicked off his sneakers but there was nothing in the cubby at all.

"What is going on here?" he practically shouted as he peered into the small locker and found it was empty except for a pair of small yellow roses. Bewildered, he picked one of them up and twirled it between his thumb and forefinger. "A secret admirer?" he wondered, blushing a little. "Or did a fangirl steal my shoes and leave roses in their place?" His blush disappeared as he thought of the latter and he groaned instead. Conceding this unfortunate turn of events, he put his outdoor shoes on and tugged down his pant legs as far as he could to cover them up, hoping nobody would notice. It didn't really matter, though, he'll probably end up getting mop duty anyway for being tardy.

The halls were empty as all the students were already in class, so he felt no guilt in bolting through the hallways until he got to his classroom door, which he slowly slid open before crossing the threshold into his classroom. He held his breath as nobody seemed to have notice him sidle in and tried to quietly close the door behind him. Unfortunately it closed with a bit of a loud click and he froze in terror as many pairs of eyes turned their attention to him, including a pair of big hazel eyes that belonged to the most evil of subsitute teachers! It was Ms. Chono; a beautiful teacher with auburn who wore far too much make up. Though she comes off sweet to get what she wants, she loves torturing students by finding ways to punish them for any rule they might break, no matter how small. He heard she once pushed to have a freshman expelled because she had stickers on her notebooks.

In fact, she once got so out of control that Atem punished her with a shadow game so that she wouldn't expell Yugi and and his friends. Honda had fallen in love with a classmate and asked Yugi and Jonouchi to help him confess to her which led to putting a secret love message on a puzzle and gifting it to her. But when Ms. Chono felt the need to blow off steam by bothering students, she made the class empty their desks so she can find somebody to punish. Ms. Chono found the puzzle and started solving it in front of everybody, mocking the poor girl who had it in her desk and Honda's feelings in the process. Before she could get to the end where the name would be revealed, Yugi stood up for Honda, saying that it was his fault and that he wrote the message. Jonouchi followed suit and said he was the one who put it in her desk. Ms. Chono could see through their plan and continued to solve it, forcing Atem to act. The more pieces she solved, the more cracked her makeup became until her own face shattered like a puzzle and revealed her true ugly self from within. Shamed, she ran from the room and wasn't seen for several months. Unfortunately she came back, wearing more make up than ever. She's the only one who can see her flaws, so in her desperation to cover them up, she has made herself somewhat of a laughingstock. Thanks to Atem's punishment, however, if she ever reveals her true ugly self by lashing out at students, her makeup cracks again and falls off, forcing her to go to the bathroom and fix it all over again.

Now even with that in mind, Yugi wasn't sure if the punishment game's curse would work if she had a legitimate excuse to punish him...like for being tardy. Heck, he didn't even know if the curse was still active now that Atem was no longer on the same plane of existence. So he braced himself for the worst punishment she could think of but instead he was met with silence.

He glanced around and found that all the students had gone back to looking at their lesson books and Ms. Chono went back to reading through the lesson plan. Was he off the hook? Not wanting to push his luck, he quickly went to his desk and slid into his chair, not even bothering to pull it out, lest he make any more noise. That's when he remembered that he forgot his backpack at home. His face fell and he buried it in his hands. Today couldn't get much worse. Poor Yugi glanced over his shoulder at Jonouchi who was busy writing stuff down. Maybe he could get the assignments from Jonouchi later. This eased his mind a little bit so he reached into his desk to see what books he didn't leave at home. Maybe he can prop one open and Ms. Chono wouldn't notice the difference while she taught the lesson. All he had to do was make sure he didn't get called on and he might get away with it.

But as he groped around in his desk, he nearly cried out in despair as he felt it was EMPTY! He couldn't even find a spare pencil or a shred of eraser lint! Was this his punishment for being late? Did the class prank him by emptying out his desk? He looked up at the substitute and saw she wasn't even looking in his direction. If this was her way of punishing him, she wasn't even taking the time to glance in his direction so she can watch him squirm. Or better yet, maybe she was adding on the agony by ignoring his presence completely.

Well this is just great. This means he actually has to listen to her talk or he'd be completely lost. His hand still hadn't given up digging around in his desk, though, as hopeless as it seemed and eventually he felt his fingers brush against something soft. Surprised, he lifted the mysterious object from the desk and discovered it to be a small white rose.

More roses? Just what is going on here? Did the fangirl take the stuff from his desk too? Is this all some kind of joke? If so, he didn't understand it at all. Grumbling, he set it back inside so Ms. Chono wouldn't see it and punish him for having such a thing in his desk. But wait...his deck! He almost forgot about it! If his desk is empty, then it's most certainly not here!

Yugi just sat glumly in his seat. He seemed calm on the outside, but inside he felt like he was going to crack. His deck was really important to him, he wouldn't just misplace it like this. What if it was stolen like his other things? He could see it now, his precious cards being auctioned off one by one on ebay or something as collector's items or being drooled on by some ravenous fangirl. Just the thought made him feel sick. Maybe his friends will know what's going on. The lunch bell just can't ring soon enough.

Maybe it was because Yugi was a bundle of nerves, or maybe it was because his nerves were so shot that he had tuned out the rest of the world, but in what seemed like a blink of an eye, the lunch bell rang and the class was filing out one by one to go to the lunch room and recess grounds. It came so quickly it nearly startled Yugi but he shook it off quickly and turned in his seat to talk to Jonouchi and the others.

Or at least he would have, but Honda and Anzu just gave Jonouchi a long glance before leaving together and following the rest of the class. Soon it was just Yugi and Jonouchi in the room. What was going on between the three of them? In fact, Jonouchi looked kind of down. He wasn't even looking up at Yugi.

"Jonooooooooouchi-kun!" Yugi leaned over the back of his chair so he was looking directly into the blond's face. "Have you seen my deck anywhere? Or my books? ...Or my shoes for that matter? I've had the weirdest morning. I think I might have a stalker!"

Before Yugi could go into detail, Jonouchi silently reached into his book back and pulled out a familiar blue deck box and rested his hands on the desk as he looked at it with a strange look in his eyes.

"That's my deck!" Yugi cried, recognizing the leather box immediately and snatching it out of Jonouchi's hands, earning a yelp of surprise from his fellow classmate. "Why do you have it? I was worried sick!" he asked while he opened it up and went through the cards to make sure it really was his deck. After a few seconds of silence from Jonouchi, Yugi looked up and saw he had gone pale and looked shaken.

"Hello? Earth to Jonouchi-kun! I asked you a question!"

"I'll do whatever you want, just please don't be mad!" Jonouchi practically cried, scooting his chair back from the desk a few inches.

"Well what did you expect? You have my deck and you won't tell me why!"

"I'm sorry. I probably should've left it with your grandpa, but I just..."

Yugi blinked in confusion. So Jonouchi-kun must've found it, but he couldn't find Yugi, so he just held onto it instead of leaving it at the shop with his grandfather. Well there's no harm in that! Sure he could have called, but Yugi didn't even realize it was missing so whatever. There's no reason Jonouchi should be looking so guilty if that was the case. But then again his friend did look like he was really bothered by something so maybe he wasn't thinking straight.

"I know what will cheer you up!" Yugi smiled and started shuffling his deck.

"You want to duel?" Jonouchi asked with an air of caution in his voice as he watched Yugi shuffle his cards.

"You bet. I know something's bothering you. This will help clear your head!" the small duelist said confidently as he set the deck down and drew his five cards.

Finally, a small smile appeared on the blond's face and he grabbed his own deck from his bag and began to shuffle.

As the minutes went by, Jonouchi seemed to relax. His moves were shaky at first but as each turn went by, he seemed to enjoy himself more and more. But something was still off. Jonouchi seemed to be eyeing Yugi's cards more than he was actually looking at Yugi. Why was he checking them? Maybe he was just making sure each one wasn't damaged from being wherever it was he found them? Or maybe he was just familiarizing himself with Yugi's newest cards. Whatever it was, Yugi tried not to pay too much attention to it, not when his friend was starting to cheer up.

Finally the match was over and Yugi was of course declared the victor. Even so, Jonouchi laughed merrily and congratulated Yugi on a well-played game, which made the smaller duelist giggle with a humble blush while he put cards back into his deck box. Lunch was almost over so maybe he and Jonouchi should go get something to eat.

"They're not going to believe this, you know..." Jonouchi suddenly said, all the merriment that was previously in his voice now nonexistent.

Startled by the drastic change in tone, Yugi tilted his head in confusion at his friend. "Believe what?"

"Yugi, let me hold onto your deck for you. We don't want Ms. Chono to see it," Jonouchi offered, extending his hand for it.

Yugi nodded and placed the box in Jonouchi's care. He's kept it safe for this long so he trusts his best friend to keep an eye on it until after school.

A tiny hint of a smile tugged at the corner of Jonouchi's lips but his eyes still seemed distant as he carefully put both their decks back inot his bag. It was just then that Honda and Anzu entered the room, having just returned from eating their lunch.

"Are you not eating today?" Anzu asked.

"I'm not feeling all that hungry," Jonouchi explained. "But listen, I-"

"You can't keep doing this, you know! Lunch is very important! You haven't eaten properly in days!" Honda interrupted.

"He hasn't?" Yugi blinked.

"I know, I know, but-"

"Hey, when is grandpa getting back?" Anzu asked, interrupting the blond again.

Yugi looked at her, "That's a good question. I don't think he mentioned when they'd be back."

A little red vein was threatening to pop out of Jonouchi's head, "He said they'd be back by next Sunday."

"Wait, how would you know that and not me?" Yugi asked teasingly. Maybe jii-chan really did say something and he just didn't remember.

"Hm...maybe I should cook them a welcome home dinner for when they get back. I'm sure they'll be exhausted from their trip," Anzu suggested.

"Aw, that's so nice of you, Anzu-chan!" Yugi smiled. The brunette was so thoughtful. He really wanted to tell her that she didn't have to go through the trouble, but then again, he rarely got a chance to taste her cooking.

"In any case, I'm glad the took some time for their family to be together. It's times like these where they need to support each other the most and it's hard to do when Yugi's dad isn't even in the same country," Honda added.

"Times like these?" Yugi parroted. "What do you mean by that?" If it was so important for them to be together, why didn't they ask him to come along?

"Guys-" Jonouchi said through grit teeth, trying to get a word in, but he was once again interrupted by the bell that indicated lunch was over and students were filing back into the room. He was drowned out by the scraping of desks and chairs as students scrambled to get back into their seats, including Anzu and Honda, so he just sighed and gave up before turning his attention back to the front of the class like everybody else.

Yugi wanted to hear what Jonouchi was trying to say, but the room was falling silent as Ms. Chono came back to class so he couldn't risk getting them both in trouble by talking now. When the next lesson started, he remembered that Jonouchi never did answer his question about where his books went and with that in mind he just gave up on the day and let his head fall to his desk with a soft thud.

He must've fallen asleep because he heard the final bell ring and nearly jumped out of his seat in surprise. Did Ms. Chono really let him sleep through class? Knowing her, she was probably just pretending to ignore him while keeping a list of everything he's doing wrong now that he doesn't have anything in his desk that will allow him to follow along with the lessons. Idleness alone can be punishable with detention. That along with his tardiness and incorrect footwear, she could have the perfect laundry list of broken rules that would ensure his expulsion. As he watched her leave the classroom, he thought bitterly that she was on her way to the principle to report him and he'd no doubt hear all about it tomorrow.

But he'll deal with that when it comes, he thought glumly, as he stretched his arms above his head and turned to Jonouchi to ask for his deck back. The blond, however, was busy writing something down so Yugi waited for him to finish before asking. Whatever it was, it certainly took a while because nearly all the students had left except for the two of them, Honda, and Anzu. The two brunettes grabbed their bags and stood near Jonouchi's desk, both with concerned looks on their faces.

"You can talk to us, you know. The way you're handling this...it can't be healthy," Anzu started.

Jonouchi finally snapped his head up and glared at her, "And how exactly am I supposed to handle it, huh? You deal with it your way and I'll deal with mine, okay?"

Yugi was taken aback by his harsh tone. What had happened? Jonouchi would never snap at Anzu like that!

"Don't talk to her like that! She's only trying to help. We're both worried about you. This isn't easy for any of us, but we can help each other out if you just-"

Jonouchi stood up from his desk, this time it was his turn to interrupt Honda, "You're right, it's not easy! But you two act like nothing even happened! You don't talk about it, you just go through the motions like your everyday lives haven't been affected whatsoever!"

Okay, yeah, Jonouchi snapping at Honda was completely normal. But still, this was getting out of hand. "EVERYONE! Calm down! What are you all talking about?" Yugi asked desperately in his attempt to intervene.

"That's not true, Jonouchi!" Anzu shouted with a sob choking her voice. "I wake up every day thinking about him. Everything reminds me of him and I can't even walk the usual way to the bus without crying."

At Anzu's confession, it hit Yugi what they were talking about. Even after all this time, were they still upset that Atem was no longer with them? If they had been feeling this way, this seems like an odd time for these feelings to surface. They seemed okay after the first month without him, so why now? And this has been going on for several days? What changed? Yugi racked his brains as the three of them talked (or rather shouted). The only big event he could think of recently was his birthday party. But they were all having a good time! Maybe the celebration felt a little off with their happy group being smaller by one and it reminded them that Atem was no longer there to enjoy these fun times with them. Yugi felt that way because he had wanted to throw a birthday party for Atem someday, but he didn't think the others were thinking about him too. Then again, he could be completely wrong, but that's the only thing he can think of that fits this vague time frame.

Is that why Jonouchi was walking on eggshells around Yugi? Did they all miss Atem that much but didn't want Yugi to know since obviously it was Yugi's doing that sent him to the afterlife in the first place? He frowned at the idea and stared down at the floor. They didn't want him to feel guilty for sending their friend away, and now it's all out in the open. They know he did the right thing, but it's still hard to accept...even all these months later. He wanted to say something...anything...but he couldn't find the words.

"JUST SHUT UP! BOTH OF YOU!" Jonouchi cried.

Yugi looked up at Jonouchi's outburst and then the shouting match died to silence. He looked nervously at the three of them, tears beginning to grow in his own eyes.

"Jonouchi-kun..." Yugi sniffled in a tiny voice.

"He wouldn't want to see us fighting like this. For all we know he could be here right now, watching his best friends fight because they don't know what to do without him. We can't let him see that," Jonouchi choked, hiding his eyes in his sleeve in an attempt to mop up his tears before they fell.

Anzu and Honda averted their eyes to allow him the dignity of crying without them staring. The silence continued awkwardly for a few seconds while Jonouchi pulled himself together. Yugi meanwhile was both moved by their apparently deep love for Atem...and somewhat put out at the same time. He had been missing Atem more than any of them but he suffered in silence so that he wouldn't bring his friends down with his moping and here they were suffering together WITHOUT him? Did helping each other cope not include him or something?

Finally, Honda broke the silence. "Jonouchi's right...what he said before. We are all trying to get through this in our own ways. He wouldn't want to see us fighting. But Anzu's right, too. Even if we find different ways to cope, we need to support each other and tell each other how we're feeling. We can't do this alone. He wouldn't want us to be alone, not after all the trouble he's gone through."

Yugi quirked an eyebrow. Okay, that last sentence confused him more than ever, but the three of them chuckled as if it was some kind of inside joke. He wanted to ask again what the hell they were going on about, but since they were making up, he felt it best not to push it.

Jonouchi sniffed and laughed, "You're right. I'll try to take better care of myself and join you guys more often on your outings. But if you don't mind, I want to finish this up and walk home by myself today. I need time to think."

Honda and Anzu smiled and nodded, wishing Jonouchi a good night and gave their good-byes and promises to hang out tomorrow before leaving.

Well since Jonouchi said he wanted to walk home alone, Yugi guessed that means he shouldn't stick around, either. Anzu and Honda didn't even wait to see if Yugi wanted to walk with them. Or maybe they're waiting for him to catch up at the foot lockers in case he wanted to say something to Jonouchi alone. Yeah, that's probably it. But after all that has happened today, he wasn't that confident about his theory and clunkily stood up, scraping his chair loudly against the floor as he did so. His body just felt heavy with confused emotion. He just wanted to go home and forget about today.

The chair scraping caught Jonouchi's attention and he paled again but quickly shook it off. "Yugi...do you want to walk home with me? M-maybe you'd like to stay at my place while your family is away? It must be lonely at home without them," Jonouchi asked. "Don't worry about my old man. He's been out of town for a while catching up with some of his old drinking buddies. And I've taken a lot of time cleaning up the place since I haven't been hanging out after school with Honda and Anzu as much. This means you'll finally get to see what my place used to look like before it became a hell hole!" Jonouchi added, laughing.

Yugi visibly brightened. He wanted to hug his best friend so much right now but that wouldn't be very manly.

Aw, hell, as soon as Jonouchi stood from his desk, Yugi wrapped his arms tightly around his middle. "Thank you so much! That sounds like fun!" he practically squeed, elated that Jonouchi didn't seem to have any grudges with him. He knew he could always count on him.

Jonouchi very awkwardly returned the hug as if he wasn't sure where to touch. When they broke free, Yugi was confused yet again. Jonouchi may have insisted that hugs weren't a very manly thing to exchange at school, but he's never acted this awkwardly about it before. But maybe it was just because he didn't seem to think of the invitation was as big of a deal as Yugi felt it was. That makes sense.

After Jonouchi finished putting his stuff away, they both headed for home, with Yugi grabbing the roses from both his desk and shoe locker on the way out. During the walk back, Jonouchi was pretty silent as Yugi went on and on about his weird morning and about the flowers he found, speculating out loud about what they mean and who left them and why his things were nowhere to be found.

Jonouchi didn't speak until they were taking a short cut through a deserted back alley to get to his apartment. "I'm sorry I didn't tell them, Yug'. But...I don't know how they would've taken it. I'm kind of glad they interrupted me. I didn't think first."

"Tell them what, Jonouchi-kun?" Yugi asked.

"To think...that you're...now...Ergh...let's get inside first. I can't do this out here," Jonouchi choked, picking up the pace to his apartment.

"I'm what? WHAT IS GOING ON! COME ON, JONOUCHI-KUN!" Yugi pleaded as he had to run to catch up with the brisk pace set up by Jonouchi's longer legs.

When they arrived at the apartment, Yugi kicked off his shoes and took a look around. It was a nice two bedroom place. The last time he saw it was through a crack in the door when they came to check on Jonouchi after he had been absent from school. What he saw was piles of take out cartons, stained surfaces that would give his mother nightmares, and bottles on every spare inch of floor. Unfortunately it was his father that they found who was drunk off his ass. In fact, he chucked a beer bottle at them and Yugi and the gang hadn't visited Jonouchi's place since.

So in short, the place was almost unrecognizeable. It just saddened Yugi knowing Jonouchi's father would undoubtedly ruin all of his efforts the minute he gets back home. "You did a great job, Jonouchi-kun!" Yugi praised.

Jonouchi kicked off his shoes and waved for Yugi to follow him. "Come this way, Yugi. My room's over here."

Yugi nodded and followed, eager to see what Jonouchi's room looked like. Unfortunately, there wasn't much at all. He had an old school desk that he did his homework on and apparently felt no guilt in carving tons of random doodles into it with a pocket knife. No doubt finding it more entertaining than actually using the table for it's specified purpose. The curtains were seemed to be wide open as lots of sunlight was coming through, but then Yugi realized it was because the blue curtains were so moth-eaten and threadbare that they might as well had not been there at all. The walls were decorated with Duel Monster tournament posters and there was a corkboard covered with any articles he could find that mention him and/or Yugi. Of course Jonouchi would hoard any evidence that he could find to prove that he was a notable duelist, Yugi thought to himself with a smile. The bedspread was actually a large patchwork quilt and it looked rather old, but well taken care of, unlike the curtains. He had his own closet and another chair that had an electric fan sitting on it that stayed on and kept the room nice and cool. It was kind of loud but Yugi wondered if that was meant to drown out his father's ravings during the night. In fact, the door had two deadbolts installed into it and the wood was heavily scarred with dents and scratches like somebody had repeatedly tried to force it open and then decided to just chuck heavy objects at it instead. Leaning against the far wall was a beat up red bicycle with a large basket attached to it, equipped to the nines with reflectors, mirrors, and advertisement stickers. It must've been Jonouchi's paper route bike.

Okay, this was just depressing, Yugi thought. He didn't think the day could get any heavier, but he was proven wrong more than once today for sure. He took a seat in Jonouchi's desk chair and watched Jonouchi close the door and lock it before sitting on the bed and digging into his bag. He really hoped Jonouchi just locked the door out of habit and not as a precaution in case his father to randomly show up.

"So what were you trying to say earlier, Jonouchi-kun?"

"First of all, Yug', I'm sorry again for keeping your cards. I meant to keep them safe for you, until you woke up. But then...I just couldn't give them up. I missed you so much..."

"Missed...me? While that's sweet and all, Jonouchi-kun, you and I see each other every day!" Yugi laughed awkwardly, his face red. He was so flustered by the last comment, he totally missed the second sentence.

"I'm sorry you had to hear that at school today. You said you wished for friends that would never leave you. We promised we wouldn't. But none of us predicted that you would leave first," Jonouchi held Yugi's deck box again and this time tears freely flowed down his face.

"W-what? What do you mean? I didn't leave, I'm right here!"

"Yes, you're here now, but you really shouldn't be. It's not right. I mean I would love it if you stayed, but that's not fair to you. We all know what it was like for Atem. He wouldn't want you to go through what he had to. None of us would want that for you. Not after all that we've been through!"

Yugi was now crying too. Now completely confused and scared, he ran to Jonouchi and wrapped his arms tightly around him, crying into his chest. "What are you trying to tell me? You want me to leave? I don't understand! What are you not telling me?"

Jonouchi let out a sound as if he were in pain, like his heart were breaking. "When you came to class today...I knew...but then at lunch...Anzu and Honda would've thought I was nuts. That maybe I was hallucinating because I miss you so much. But even if they did believe me, Anzu would be so torn up."

Yugi pulled back and looked at the flowers in his fist that he didn't even realize he was clutching. Yellow and white roses?

Jonouchi stared at the flowers, too. "So you did find them after all. I think that would make her happy, at least."

White...

A white rose...

No, it couldn't be!

Yugi looked desperately around and ran to the bicycle against the wall, turning the mirror toward himself.

No reflection.

Yugi had no reflection.

"Yugi...?" Jonouchi asked at the open air.

"Y-you can't see me, can you? Can you even hear me?"

Jonouchi looked around and turned off the fan so he could hear for any sounds of movement.

"So today...no...this is just all a bad dream!" Yugi clutched his head, unable to stop himself from sobbing. He needed to get out of here. He needed to go home!

He hurled himself at the door and started fiddling with the locks, getting Jonouchi's attention with their loud clicking and clacking.

"You're leaving? Why? Please! You don't have to leave RIGHT NOW! I didn't mean it!" Jonouchi pleaded as he watched the door rattle on its own.

"I'm sorry, I need to go home!" Yugi shouted, hurling himself at the door only to find himself falling through it and landing on the floor. He stared up at the other side of the door in disbelief. This couldn't be happening. "No...no...it's not true!" he ran from the apartment, neatly stacked papers flying everywhere as he fled.

Jonouchi finally got the locks undone and saw from the mess that Yugi had definitely left. With no time to waste, he grabbed Yugi's deck and his bike and headed after him!

Poor Yugi's day was just getting worse and worse. He was running faster than he had ever ran in his entire life and he didn't even feel tired. His legs almost felt weightless. No...not weightless. I'm not weightless. It's adrenaline. None of this is really happening, he told himself. He looked up at the sun that had begun it's descent from the sky, turning the horizon orange while it began to glow a firey red with a bright yellow core that was still hard to look at but definitely not blinding. It almost reminded him of a headlight. If a headlight were attached to an orange car...and smeared with...blood.

"NOOOO!" Yugi screamed at the top of his lungs even though he had not yet accepted that he can't be heard. "That's not what happened! It didn't happen!"

He kept running for home while trying to push all thoughts from his mind. He didn't want to think about anything until he was home! But the nagging thoughts wouldn't leave, so he tried to think of a happier time instead when all of his friends were together. His birthday bash was a good one. Yes, Atem wasn't there, but he was certainly there in spirit. Anzu, Jonouchi, Honda, Ryo Bakura, Otogi Ryuuji, his mom and grandpa...they were all there. They had a party at his place. His mom baked a huge cake that was more than enough to give all the hungry boys enough servings. Grandpa had ordered all of them any food that they wanted from Burger World. He recalled happily sitting in the living room with everybody while he opened gifts and read through all of his birthday cards, especially the ones from those who couldn't make it to the party. Even Kaiba-kun sent me a card, Yugi thought as he smiled through his tears. Truth to be told, it looked like it was signed by his secretary but it's the thought that counts. Mokuba's signature was definitely genuine and he could tell it was the younger Kaiba's idea to send along a box of candies shaped like duel monsters. Mai sent him a card from wherever she was. The two have only been able to keep in touch via email, so it was no surprise to him that she didn't put a return address on the envelope. It had a singing dog that sang happy birthday in three different languages and along with it she sent him a snowglobe with a pretty blue dragon inside. It was random, but nice.

Finally Yugi was home and he just shoved his way through the shop, going through solid walls and doors without even thinking about it until he made it to the living room and fell to his knees to catch his breath. Happy thoughts. Happy thoughts.

There were so many thoughtful presents. He couldn't even begin to list them all. Jonouchi even scraped together some money and bought a garage kit of a Dark Magician and put it together for him. He did a brilliant job painting it, too. Even Pegasus sent him a gift which he didn't want to open at first, but his mom let him borrow her tongs and he used them to dismantle the box which was filled with Funny Bunny manga. The card it came with said that since he and Yugi were going to be best buddies for now on, Yugi better become acquainted with his favorite cartoon character so they can have more to talk about. Needless to say, Yugi doesn't recall even taking them out of the box to give them a glance.

Yugi glanced over at an ornate cabinet that sat on the other side of the room in an otherwise unused area that had a seating cushion in front of it. It's the shrine for his deceased grandmother.

Yugi looked away again and bit his lower lip. He tried to recall all the fun games they played. They partied for hours as jii-chan certainly had no shortage of games to introduce them to. As midnight drew near, Yugi's mom was ready to call it quits, but Yugi was still in the partying mood and everybody was still hyped up from cake. So Anzu suggested they all go see the midnight premiere of the latest action movie that just happened to be playing that night. Yugi's mom and grandpa were more than happy to let Yugi go on his merry way with them and they spent the next couple of hours in town at the theater. The movie wasn't even that good but laughing at it along with his friends made the experience a million times more entertaining. They laughed so hard that they were exhausted by the time the movie was over and they all decided they were going to walk home with Yugi and bunk a ride in Otogi's car to get themselves home.

The problem was...you never know what could happen on a weekend night, especially at 3 am.

The usual night crowd was thinning so it was easier to walk around on the streets. It seemed perfectly safe to use the crosswalk when the stick figure light told them to cross. Yugi walked ahead of them, crossing backwards as he was still chatting with Jonouchi who was a few steps behind him. The way that the ninja got decapitated by a flying toenail was just so ridiculous. And the fact that it was so violent and yet didn't show any blood because it wanted to keep a low viewer rating was just laughable! Almost as laughable as a crappy orange station wagon with a bad purple flame spray paint job. But when said station wagon came really close, it wasn't funny at all. Especially when it got splashed with a different color after Yugi got a really really close look at its bumper...and hood...and windshield...and trunk.

"No...I didn't get hit, did I? I rolled over top of it, I didn't get run over. I should've been okay, right? People have survived worse. He wasn't going that fast, right?" he asked the darkness of the unoccupied living room.

He heard doors opening nearby and the ringing of the shop bell. It must've been Jonouchi. Yugi's grandpa gave him a key when he found out that his dad had become more violent and told him he could come day or night whenever he needed a place to go. Of course he would follow him home. Where else does a dead person go?

Yugi thought this bitterly and finally opened the shrine. Sure enough, there was a picture of him in his school uniform in a black frame seated right next to his grandmother's picture. On the bottom shelf sat his puzzle box which gleamed at him in the dark. Yugi only stared at the eye of horus and held himself, now suddenly feeling very cold and numb. He didn't even make a noise to indicate he was still present when Jonouchi came in.

But Jonouchi was observant. He saw the open shrine and the impression left on the pillow in front of it. With a sigh the blond turned on the lights and sat on the couch with his head in his hands. He had done enough crying. Obviously some things needed to be addressed. Yugi was here for a reason and he needed to help his friend out.

"Did you not know, pal? Did you not know you were dead?" Jonouchi asked quietly.

Yugi suddenly felt very angry and grabbed a piece of fruit from the offering table and chucked it at the wall, making it go SPLAT!

"WHOA! Okay okay! Obviously you didn't," Jonouchi flinched at the sound.

Yugi tried to be more understanding. After all, he Jonouchi was terrified of ghosts, but he was making an effort to stay here and comfort him. It meant a lot but at the same time, he had just gone nearly 24 hours without realizing he was dead. Somebody could've clued him in earlier.

"If you had...you would've been with Atem by now. Or at least that's what Anzu hopes. That's what helps her cope, you see, knowing that you two are reunited. But I guess that didn't happen. So why are you here? Do you even know what happened?"

Okay, if this was going to work, Yugi needed to be able to speak. He got up and stomped his way over to his mom's office and came back with her laptop, setting it down on the coffee table in front of Jonouchi and booting it up.

Jonouchi, naturally, was terrified of the levitating laptop but once he saw it turn on and the notepad program running, he began to relax. Soon the keys were going clickity-clack as works were quickly being typed onto the screen.

"Jeez, I didn't know you could type that fast. Let's see here, you just now remembered the accident. You want to know what happened after? Ughhh...do I really have to be the one to tell you. It was awful. I don't think you even want to know!"

Yugi banged on the table to indicate he was getting impatient.

"FINE! Okay...Some drunk blew through the light and hit you. It would've hit me too, but Honda pulled me out of the way at the last second. The jerk hit a telephone pole further down the road and he didn't survive because his car was such a big hunk of junk that it didn't even have proper air bags. You...you got hit pretty hard. You rolled over it since he didn't stop. Your shoes flew off and your deckbelt broke. I-I couldn't just leave it. It was covered with your blood and I knew they would throw it away so I took the box off of it." Jonouchi then placed the box back on the table which Yugi finally realized had brown stains all over the blue-tinted leather...the color of old blood.

"You were in a coma for two days. We were all with you. We refused to go to school and we didn't go back for a week-What?" Jonouchi stopped speaking when he heard the keys moving again.

"My alarm clock says today is Tuesday," Yugi typed. "So my birthday was this last weekend, wasn't it?"

"N-no...Yugi...You've been dead for three weeks. That's why I didn't understand why you suddenly appeared. I didn't want the others to know. I could feel you when you reached for your cards. I even felt you when you sat down in your chair. I could feel your spirit...especially your duelist spirit when you played. That's when I knew I wasn't hallucinating. If Anzu knew you hadn't found your way to Atem, she'd be an emotional wreck. And Honda...he'd deny it and try to get us all in the loony bin for treatment."

So that's why he didn't know where his family had gone...and that's why they didn't invite him along. His grandpa must've put his puzzle box here and Jonouchi had his deck. Of course his desk and shoe locker would be empty...and that's why Anzu left him flowers. That was what the fight was about. It wasn't Atem they were mourning...it was him all along and he didn't want to see it. The joke Honda made...he remembered Yugi's wish and the 8 years it took him to solve the puzzle to make it happen. That's the joke.

Yugi suddenly started laughing. It was a bittersweet laugh. Maybe the puzzle's spell will still keep his friends together even when he's not there anymore. Maybe that's why he's still here. He just wanted to make sure they were okay. They admitted Jonouchi had been avoiding them. Maybe he needed Yugi's help the most.

"Are you still there?" Jonouchi asked.

Yugi snapped out of his thoughts and typed his next question: How's jii-chan?

"He's seen better days. Obviously he's taking your passing very hard. You meant everything to him. But if Atem's presence has taught us anything, it's that we will see our loved ones again in one way or another and that good-bye doesn't have to be forever. I think he copes with the knowledge that he'll get to see you again in due time. But I don't want to think about that! If the old man croaks, I dunno what I'll do..." Jonouchi sniffed hard.

Yugi reached out and grabbed his hand, giving it a firm squeeze. He felt Jonouchi's hand twitch, so he knows he must've felt it.

"Thanks, Yugi. Next question before I start the waterworks again."

Yugi sat and thought about things he wanted to ask but he couldn't think of any. He was dead. He wasn't coming back. What else was there? He wished he could give something to Jonouchi...something...WAIT!

He typed brb really fast and ran upstairs for a notebook he had on his desk. When he reached for it, he found he had a hard time getting it off the desk. Was he getting weaker? He tried to go through the wall with it but duh, solid object can't go through solid wall. So he had to back track and take the long way down the stairs. Good thing he didn't do that with his mom's laptop. He rejoined Jonouchi in the living room and dropped the notebook in his lap before going back to the computer to type.

"Kaiba-kun is probably really pissed off that I died since he no longer has a rival. This notebook is full of decks that I was planning out. I want you to have my cards and try out some of these decks. Tell Kaiba that I made them and duel with them for me. Maybe that will help him cope, too. And maybe you two can finally be friends," he typed.

Jonouchi scoffed. "He won't duel me, Yugi! You know he won't!"

"He might. He's not completely heartless. And I bet he'd be curious. But you have to play with your own heart and your own flair, Jonouchi-kun. I know eventually that even though you don't have the same dueling style as me, Kaiba-kun will acknowledge that you are a worthy opponent in your own right for your adaptiveness and creativity. You might lose a lot but I know you will improve and then you'll become his new rival and friend in no time and you won't need my notebook to pique his interest anymore."

Jonouchi sighed and stared down at the book. "I'll try anything for you, Yug'. I know what you're trying to do...and I appreciate it. Even in death, you're always thinking of me. I don't know what I did to deserve a great friend like you. I really don't."

Yugi playfully punched him in the arm and typed up, "YOU'RE NOT ACTING VERY MANLY!"

Jonouchi read this and roared with laughter. "You're such a smartass! But what else do you want done?"

Yugi calmed his giggling and typed some more: Tell Anzu she will be a great dancer and that the roses were beautiful. Tell Honda to ask out that girl he likes again. If he truly loves her, he shouldn't give up. Tell Ryo he can have my monster world collection and to keep doing what he loves and to stay happy. Tell Otogi that I hope he still continues to improve his relationship with his father and that I want him to talk to Pegasus about taking management of my 60% of Industrial Illusions shares. I know he will do a good job. He's more accustomed to handling that stuff than I am and Kaiba-kun is too bitter to not think twice about shutting the place down if I gave him any control. Keep emailing Mai. Tell her how you really feel. Let her know that she's never alone. Tell her every day. And lastly, promise me that you'll all stay friends forever. Even if Anzu goes to America and you all go to different colleges or whatever, stay in touch. Don't let your hearts drift apart. I don't know what's going to happen next, but I want to leave knowing that none of you will ever have to feel alone again.

Jonouchi squinted as he read the wall of text that appeared on the screen. And finally when it stopped, he nodded, "I promise. I promise you all of that. You won't have to worry anymore. We'll be okay. And I'll keep an eye on your mom and grandpa. They're practically my family too."

Yugi nodded, tears streaming down his face, this time they were tears of relief. This was what he needed...what they all needed. They can all move forward now. He only had one last thing to type.

"I love you, Jonouchi-kun. I love all of you. Please look out for each other. Enjoy the good things in life and keep your head up when things are bad."

"I love you too, pal. I hope after this...maybe you can still give us a sign every now and then...I dunno. I'd like to know that you're okay," Jonouchi stammered.

The smaller duelist thought for a moment and typed. "Just keep an eye on my deck for me. I might come and shuffle it every now and then."

The blond laughed. "Mind shuffle..."

Yugi giggled.

"Mind shuffle, huh? Is two years long enough to say that's old school?" a booming voice asked.

Yugi gasped and saw a bright light at the other end of the room. He walked near it and tried to look at it but it was so blindingly bright. It felt warm and inviting and he felt like his hands were being held. He tried to see the source of the familiar voice but all he could hear was the sound of an ocean.

"Atem? Is that you?" Yugi asked the light.

"Of course it is. Though I have to admit, I had to shove through a long line of people so I could be the first to greet you. I think your grandma wants to send me to my second death," Atem's voice called out from the light.

Yugi cried again, clasping his hands over his mouth. A lot of people? Waiting for him? This must be it.

He turned around and saw Jonouchi was still staring at the screen and waiting for him to speak. Relunctantly he pulled away from the inviting light. "Just one more second, Atem, I need to say good-bye!" he pleaded.

"Take your time. It's not like the welcome wagon has any afterlives that they have to get back to or anything," Atem joked.

Yugi ignored him and typed one last message for Jonouchi:

It's time for me to go. Atem's still as smug as ever. 3

Good-bye, Jonouchi-kun. -Yugi

Jonouchi read the last few lines from his friend and sighed. "Good-bye, Yugi. I'll see you again in the next life. Try not to have too much fun without us," he waved at the laptop's general vicinity.

Yugi gave a last long look at his friend, memorizing his face before giving him one last hug and heading for the light where he could finally see an outstretched hand decorated in gold jewelry. Yeah, that's the pharaoh all right. "So you finally got your matching bracelets after all," Yugi smirked.

Jonouchi felt the hug and looked around the room when Yugi left his side and for a brief second, he thought he saw his friend standing at the other side of the room, taking the hand of his former partner who was clothed in Egyptian finery but it all disappeared once he blinked.

"Yeah, he'll be alright. We'll all be..." Jonouchi nodded to himself before saving the notepad document on the laptop, grabbing the notebook, cleaning the room, and then going home to call up his friends.

Fin

(A/N: He won the shares in Duelist Kingdom as part of the stakes in the Japanese version of the anime. Winning control was the only way to keep I2 from being able to buy out KC whether Yugi won or not.)

[A/N: I cried while typing this. I don't even know if it will come out the same way to you guys as it did to me. It might even sound like rambling but if you guys imagine even an iota of the amount of emotion they had in their words as what they had in my head as I wrote this, I'm sure you'll see what I mean. I dreamed of a scenario similar to this before I went to work and as I was at work, I adapted it in my head to suit a fanfiction because I identify myself with Yugi so much (In fact, if you replace deck with Yami plushy and Yugi with me, you get the gist of what original dream was.) and then as soon as I got home, I typed it all up. I am very tired. It's been 6 hours. I should sleep. XD Thank you all for reading. Reviews are welcome and appreciated! 3 ]


End file.
